Hugh Jackman Talks Secret Miscarriage and Fertility Struggle

December 18, 2012 19:10:08 GMT

The actor said he and wife Deborra-Lee Furness tried for years to conceive but they all came to devastating results.

Photo credit: Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Hugh Jackman shared another personal life story that led him to adopt his children, Oscar and Ava. The "Les Miserables" actor revealed to Katie Couric that he and wife Deborra-Lee Furness struggled through fertility and suffered two miscarriages in the past.

"To be clear, Deb and I always wanted to adopt. So that was always in our plan," the 44-year-old said. "We didn't know where in the process that would happen but biologically obviously we tried and it was not happening for us and it is a difficult time. We did IVF and Deb had a couple of miscarriages. I'll never forget it the miscarriage thing - it happens to one in three pregnancies, but it's very very rarely talked about."

Jackman admitted that the issue was not something that he would just bring up to anybody. "It's almost secretive, so I hope Deb doesn't mind me bringing it up now," he continued. "It's a good thing to talk about it. It's more common, and it is tough. There's a grieving that you have to go through. So the moment Oscar was born, all the heartache just melted away."

As for being parents, Jackman said, "Parents know you can't prepare for that moment. Nothing can prepare you... You can't even explain how incredible it is and that avalanche of emotion that comes and how it opens up your heart, how it frustrates you, how it angers you, how everything is just all the sudden how alive you are as a parent."

Jackman and Furness got married in 1996 and their son Oscar was born four years later.

In a magazine interview, Jackman previously also opened up on how his mother abandoned him when he was only 8.